Damascene Breeze

Recital of Sahih Muslim by Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi in Damascus, Rajab 1428 (July 2007) ختكت بحمد الله جامع مسلم *** بجوف دمشق الشام جوف الإسلام The book of Muslim has been completed, praise be to Allah * in the heart of Damascus of Sham, the heart of Islam. Those who regularly attend the classes of al-Sayyid al-Sharif Sheikh Abul Huda Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Yaqoubi in the Mosque of Sheikh Muhuy al-Din Ibn al-Arabi in Damascus, will have heard him mentioning time upon time: “The recital of the books of Hadith is a tradtion ...

“Use time wisely and be always in the presence (of the Masters)
and know that grace selects the one who is present”Qasida by Abu Madyan

Damascus, July 2005 – At the foot of the Qasioun mountain, north of the ancient nucleus of Damascus, lies the green dome covering the grave of Muhyi al-Din ibn al `Arabi. Next to it is a mosque, surrounded by pulsating market streets. To the East is the historical Hanabila-mosque, built by those who were driven ...

Damascus 2006. Praise be to the One who guides us to His Way, and salutations on His Messenger, the Noble Family and Tribe, and those who follow their paths. – Thanks to whom thanks are due first and foremost, our host, the erudite scholar and exemplary guide, the lighthouse of Damascus and the whole world, our revered teacher and beloved sheikh al-Sayyid Muhammad Abul Huda Al-Yaqoubi and his family. May Allah Most High protect them, as they opened for us the doors of their home during the blessed month in which Allah opens the doors of Paradise. Those ...

Damascus 2003. – “Damascus is commonly acknowledged by the local and foreign inhabitants as a very safe place to live. Crime is minimal, and rarely exceeds petty theft. Rape, murder, grand theft, are all virtually unheard of. It might be difficult to believe, and it was for me too when I first arrived, but after nearly five years of living there, I have to admit that Damascus is one of the safest places I­ve even been to.”

“In the Shade of the Levant” is a collection of thirty-one poems on Syria and the Syrian people; they were written over the span of thirty-five years between 1980-2015. As a Syrian living in Syria and then having to leave Syria, Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi describes his country, how it was and how it is, making his words a vessel not only to his own feelings, but to the feelings of the Syrian people and their on-going suffering under the Assad regime for forty years. The poems of “In the Shade of the Levant” present a series of unique and original ...